The view on iPhone XR in 5 points: how Apple takes the plunge

When Apple packs its most expensive iPhone with the latest innovations, it's hard for anyone to get excited about the next step. So, after the launch in September of the iPhone XS at $ 999 and the iPhone XS Max at $ 1,099, no one was shocked to find that the more affordable launch of the iPhone. iPhone XR, late October, did not involve a multitude of customers waiting or local press teams. This is not technically the flagship product of Apple, in 2018.

Despite the lack of lines, it is safe to say that millions of people are considering acquiring an iPhone XR. Apple has blurred the definition of "flagship product" this year, creating a "flagship" product level with two phones with XS models and a more traditional flagship product in the iPhone XR at $ 749. After making the mistake of bundling last year's components into a brand new package, Apple made the iPhone XR so close to the iPhone XS and XS Max that it could almost slip between them rather than under them.

On paper, the differences between the iPhone XR and XS are obvious: it is made of aluminum rather than steel, uses an LCD rather than OLED and has a rear camera instead of two. But in reality, it is difficult to distinguish phones other than the average size of the XR and its wide range of colors. Since Apple has incorporated its latest processors and camera functions into all XR and XS phones, they are more similar than different.

The resulting iPhone XR is an ideal flagship phone that sits below two high-end premium products in pricing, with a wider range of older devices, which are Apple's true alternatives for medium and low-end environments. Read on for the key details you need to know.

1. The XR could have called iPhone 9

If you've seen the aluminum-clad iPhone 8 and the steel-frame iPhone X, you'll immediately understand how the iPhone XR could have been called iPhone 9 – physically, it's right in the middle of it. While the back and sides are substantially similar to those of the iPhone 8, the front of the screen at the notch is virtually identical to that of the iPhone X.

This means that you lose the Home button for the benefit of a fully scan-based interface, a change that I've personally found very easy to learn and – aside from the lack of authentication Touch ID – you strongly prefer the previous model. As was the case with the iPhone X, the removal of the button and the creation of a notch for camera hardware, speaker and sensor have allowed Apple to fill more the front of the screen.

On the iPhone XR, the remaining black frame is perhaps 2mm thicker on the sides and bottom than on the X and XS models, but its screen is larger than 7mm on the diagonal. The difference is not obvious everyday. The maximum size is indistinguishable from that found on the iPhone X, XS and XS Max, slicing a segment of the screen while leaving small brackets for time and status indicators.

Since it looks like half an iPhone 8 and an iPhone X, why not call it iPhone 9? The external similarities aside, the iPhone XR is actually an extra step beyond the iPhone X in-house and Apple hopes that the prospect of a more affordable iPhone X will win Android customers price sensitive. Nevertheless, it was necessary to distinguish the cheapest model of the iPhone XS announced simultaneously, which led to a lower letter in the alphabet, which corresponds to the brand image of the company. automobile and camera.

It has also decided to use only one iPhone XR size rather than the two sizes offered in the iPhone 6, 6, 7 and 8 ranges. This change makes it extremely easy for a customer to choose an iPhone XR: it will Just choose the color and capacity you prefer, rather than worry about the size of the screen, but prevents you from choosing a smaller or larger screen size.

As a result, the iPhone XR has only one screen option: a 6.1 inch LCD touch screen. To solve a major question from the beginning: NO, you will not notice a huge – or probably even minimal – difference between resolutions the LCD "Liquid Retina" and the best OLED screens "Super Retina" Apple. The pixels of the iPhone XR are too small to be seen individually by the human eye alone and, although XS models have technically more pixels, the distinction makes no sense.

That said, there are small differences in brightness and contrast between the OLED screen and the LCD screen, although they hardly count for most people. Looked straight ahead, the XR's screen looks a hint brighter than the XS and XS Max, but the difference disappears when the screen is off-angle. Similarly, blacks on OLED screens are a little darker than XRs, but not in a way that will be noticed by 97% of users. The rendering of colors is for the most part identical.

People will actually notice the differences between iPhone XR, XS and XS Max screen sizes, even though they may not care. In raw pixel count, the XR's 6.1-inch screen has a resolution of 1792 out of 828, which is much less pixels than the 2,688 x 1,242 resolution of the 6.5 display. inches of the XS Max. But the XS Max numbers are inflated because the OLED screen uses more points to represent each pixel.

In fact, the iPhone XR effectively inserts the same user interface as the 6.5-inch iPhone XS Max in a slightly larger frame than the 5.8-inch iPhone XS. You can actually switch Display Zoom to adjustment mode to fill the 6.1-inch screen with Standard (XS Max) or Zoomed (XS) content, a subtle difference in practice. It's hard to notice on the home screen, but when you're reading web pages or using other applications, more text and images fit on the XR's display.

Apple's decision to treat the XR as the XS Max gives the XR a surprising advantage over the smaller XS. When the XS goes into landscape mode, Apple applications do not divide the 5.8-inch screen into left and right shutters, a feature that was previously exclusive to iPhone "Plus" models. But the shared pane feature is available on the larger screens of the iPhone XS Max and the iPhone XR.

The XR also comes with 12 exclusive wallpapers – pictures of bubbles of different colors – and the same dynamic black background wallpapers that debuted on the iPhone X. But the iPhone XR n is not the live wallpapers of the iPhone XS Live, a series of animated bubbles.

This is because the screen of the iPhone XR is not supported by 3D Touch, it is the pressure sensitive function "push harder on the screen" introduced by Apple in the previous iPhone. In the years I've had access to it, I've used 3D Touch only a few times a year because of a poor software implementation, and at this point, I would not miss it if it disappeared from all the iPhone.

Instead, the XR features Haptic Touch, a near-replacement that only works with a handful of buttons (camera, flashlight) and does not activate the live wallpaper of the lock screen, nor the shortcuts on the Home screen. Instead of a haptic "punch" to recognize a deep finger pressure, you just get a slight tap of confirmation when you hold your finger a split second on the screen. It's not as useful or as impressive as 3D Touch, but unless you use a lot of icon-based shortcuts, you will not notice it.

From my point of view, the only factor that will disable some people – especially users with smaller hands or pockets – is whether the iPhone XR is too big. If you thought the iPhone 6, 6s, 7 or 8 was too big, sorry; There is nothing smaller in the range of Apple. Distinguishing between normal and larger sizes of Apple, the iPhone XR is a pretty big phone. If you are in the camp waiting for something more friendly, you will have to wait.

2. Six color options and three capabilities

Five years ago, Apple launched the iPhone 5c, a reconditioned iPhone 5 sold in five plastic shells to choose from. Fortunately, this experience has been very rewarding. Although it was not much cheaper than the iPhone 5 it replaced, the iPhone 5c was quickly called "cheap" and a little cheaper for Apple. Even if some of the 5c's poor color DNA is still present in the iPhone XR, it's pretty much the only thing this year's "affordable" model has in common with its distant relative.

There is nothing plasticky or cheap on the iPhone XR; Instead, the all-glass, aluminum case is a small step forward compared to the iPhone 8 models, and it seems almost impossible to distinguish it from an iPhone X or XS matte. With the exception of a white model with a silver frame, Apple has colored the 7000 series aluminum to match the brightest color you choose for the rear window . The light blue model that I tested has a tint of metal even lighter than what I expected.

Unlike the iPhone 5c, which was surprisingly difficult to damage, the iPhone XR carries the same burst risks as most of its predecessors in glass and metal. Apple has fortified the front lens somewhat to improve XR's drop resistance, although the jury does not know how much better it will be – no matter what Apple has said in the past about glass enhancements, iPhones generally do not have excellent resistance to falls. Since the rear window is quite easy to break, it is strongly recommended to buy a fall protection case.

The colors of the Apple iPhone 5c were rather varied: plain white, bright pink, milquetoast blue, pale yellow and neon green. The strongest of these colors, the green, has disappeared from the new range iPhone XR, but the yellow, blue and pink "coral" are slightly more saturated. Like the iPhone 5c, I was personally not happy with the new colors; they are too soft and do not reach the technicolor heights of the iPod nano at its climax "nano-chromatic".

But they are happily accompanied by bright red, shiny white, and dark-black options that look very much like last year's iPhone 8 versions. With these more common choices, the iPhone XR range offers enough options to satisfy almost everyone.

The other important decision to make by the new owners of iPhone XR is a choice of capabilities: the options of 64 GB ($ 749), 128 GB ($ 799) or 256 GB ($ 899) are offered in stages from $ 50 to $ 100. You will have to choose the size that suits you, but the 128GB model seems to be the best value for money this year. There is no 128GB version of the iPhone XS, which forces customers to pay a higher premium of $ 100 to upgrade from the base model to 64GB.

3. Processor, wireless and battery performance

Internally, the iPhone XR is substantially similar to the iPhone XS, with the same A12 Bionic processor and a GPU chip with support for 802.11ac (Wi-Fi 5) and wireless Bluetooth 5.0. The spec sheets suggest that the iPhone XR offers a power of 2018 which, in most cases, is indistinguishable from the iPhone XS.

The tests carried out by Geekbench prove it. The numbers for the XS and XR are virtually the same from one test to another, with insignificant variations that place the iPhone XR well above the performance of the iPhone 8, 8 Plus and X. of the year last. 4818) and multicore performances (11461) place this pocket-sized phone in the same league as a low-end notebook, with the same graphics, the same AI intensity and the same AR power mentioned in our account rendered on the iPhone XS and the iPhone XS Max.

There are however some differences between the iPhone XR and the iPhone XS. Their importance will depend on how much you use your phone each day and the shelf life of your phone.

Apple devices do not have any RAM issues, like Android phones, and Apple stubbornly refuses to include more RAM than a device needs. Since the XR's screen has fewer pixels to feed than the XS or XS Max, it has 3 GB of RAM (2.75 GB usable) – identical to those of the iPhone X – instead of 4 XS GB (3.67 GB usable). It's unlikely you'll notice this difference yet, but if iOS continues to grow, that might make sense.

In addition, the iPhone XR has a larger battery than the iPhone XS and even the iPhone 8 Plus from last year – a cell of 2 942 mAh with a capacity of about 10% higher. Combined with the efficiency of the screen and the processor, the XR promises up to 15 hours of Internet use and 16 hours of video playback, compared with 12 hours of video playback. Internet use and 14 hours of video playback on the XS – it even surpasses an iPhone XS Max at two o'clock. I found that the iPhone XS tended to not reach the X of last year, so if battery life matters, consider the XR.

Finally, the cellular support of the iPhone XR is a step back from the XS and XS Max, promising advanced LTE speeds rather than Gigabit LTE. This is a confusing but important distinction between devices – a difference that deserves to be understood.

The iPhone XS and XS Max support the latest 4G / LTE cell towers, which are theoretically capable of delivering download speeds of 1 gigabit per second (Gbps) under certain conditions with certain operators. For comparison, the maximum cell speed of the XR is closer to 400 megabits per second (Mbps), like the iPhone X. If these numbers do not tell you anything, keep in mind two things: Few people today have home internet service faster than 100 Mbit / s, but over the next two years, many companies will offer a 1 Gbit / s domestic or cellular service, with a promise of 5 Gbit / s in the near future.

When I tested side by side the iPhone XS and the iPhone XR in the fastest cell towers I found in my area, both phones reached peaks of download of the order of 150 Mbps. The iPhone XS reached 154 Mbps during its best test, while the iPhone XR 150 Mbps on one test and 158 Mbps on another. Today, most users will find that their performance is virtually tied. But in a year or two, more and more Gigabit LTE compatible towers will be used worldwide, and the XS will have the advantage of speed.

4. Camera and audio performance

Although there is a lot of risk of confusion when synthesizing cameras from the iPhone XR, I'll get right to the point: even if the XR camera has only two cameras , compared to three XS devices, it is still an excellent choice of camera. . Apple has upgraded the front camera of the XR camera to "TrueDepth," which allows it to be used for everything from Animoji to Memoji through portrait photography. And the rear-facing camera is also faster and better than the iPhone 8.

The XR Front camera is identical to what's inside the iPhone XS and iPhone XS Max: a 7-megapixel fast-focus (f / 2.2) camera with depth sensor and software-stabilized 1080p video recording. When taking selfies, you can expect the same wide field of view, support for Smart HDR and the low light performance shown in my review on the iPhone XS.

I did not see any significant difference between the photos taken from the front with the XR and the XS. In addition, the XR's front camera can be used for Face ID biometric authentication, introduced in iPhone X last year, and has the same slightly faster response times than the iPhone XS. The improvement of the Face ID function introduced this year brings it closer to the replacement of Touch ID, even if its reactivity is not yet at the rendezvous.

the rear camera It is there that things get complicated. It's the same as the iPhone XS Wide Angle Camera "1X": an even faster (f / 1.8) objective 12-megapixel imager with optical and software stabilization, as well as a 4K video recording with plug support up to 60 frames per second. For daytime photography and videography, you can expect the XR results to be identical to those of an XS using only its 1X lens – with various subtle and significant enhancements that give the photographs the best appearance they have. have never gotten on iPhone.

Unfortunately, Apple has differentiated the XR from the XS by applying the latter's "2X" telephoto lens, which is slower (f / 2.4) but gives the XS and XS Max zooms an optical zoom capability. The photo below, completely new and undefined, shows exactly what it means in practice: you lose the ability to tap your frame with a perfectly neat object in the distance, as well as the instantly optimized color correction that tap automatically includes

For now, losing 2X support is the only major drawback of XR over XS. If you want to use Portrait mode, it's still there: the XR uses the actual depth data when taking photos with the front camera and a software tip to estimate the 3D depth of the rear camera. The bad news is that XR can only use this trick to estimate the depth of faces, not objects, which means you will not be able to do the same with the 3D Photos feature that Facebook is deploying.

However, because the XR portrait mode uses the XR's fast f / 1.8 "1X" lens rather than the slower f / 2.4 "2X" lens of the XS, the XR can actually take better portrait shots in the XS low light conditions; the larger and faster lens collects a lot more light. While the XR portrait mode and the XS portrait mode quickly display the "more light required" message in poor lighting conditions, the XR generates an image that almost looks like advanced daylight, while the 'portrait' of the XS is dark – almost to the point of uselessness.

It would be great if Apple added a flip-flop to the iPhone XS to allow users to choose between the camera's depth data or its XR software algorithm to capture portraits in dim light, as the results of the XR are better and the only difference between software. Until and unless that happens, each camera will have distinct strengths.

On the sound side, the iPhone XR is comparable to the iPhone XS, but not identical. Despite its larger size, its speakers produce audio at the same peak volume and with the same overall sound balance. However, if you listen carefully, the smaller XS has slightly neater bass and the XR has slightly more sibilant highs. Users of wireless headphones and speakers will probably not notice any difference between the models.

5. Prices and conclusions

Because I actually buy iPhones rather than free Apple review units, I mean their price and affordability differently than those who initially or exclusively depend on loans: for me, an iPhone is an investment in real money, and when prices go up, I feel it as you do.

That's why I consider the "affordable" marketing of the iPhone XR as a matter of perspective. With a starting price of $ 749 for 64 GB, it is indeed significantly cheaper than the iPhone XS at $ 999 and 64 GB, but it's also $ 50 more than the starting price of the iPhone 8 from last year. This is certainly not cheap, at $ 749, which would buy a premium phone from almost any provider. And in the typical Apple style, you will have to spend a little more to get the "just" version of 128GB.

Nevertheless, there is no doubt that the iPhone XR offers a much better value than the iPhone X, XS or XS Max. Unlike the iPhone 8 and 8 Plus, whose price is slightly higher than the value of their components, Apple's prices for the X, the XS and the Max – especially with more RAM – are exorbitant, reaching levels that only wealthy clients and shareholders find acceptable.

With the iPhone XR, Apple divided the difference between the prices of iPhone 8 and 8 Plus, divided the size of the body and filled the mid-road chassis with the largest screen and the largest number of modern components possible. Therefore, there are so many upgrades in the iPhone XR that it would have been more worthy to skip a figure than the iPhone 8 of the iPhone 7: a bigger screen , a TrueDepth front camera with Face ID, a faster and better rear camera, and the best mobile processor on the market, to name a few.

Since Apple has not repackaged one-year-old hardware in a less expensive package, the inclusion of current generation components in the iPhone XR makes it easy to recommend to most people. Just like the iPhone XS, I certainly will not call it "the test of time," especially since much faster new phones are literally two-fingered. But assuming you can keep it in one piece and accept its cellular speed limits, the XS should last you a few years.

That said, several factors must weigh in your mind before buying the iPhone XR. First, Apple's decision to adopt a different size than its old iPhone 8 and 8 Plus devices will make the XR an uncomfortable fit in some pockets and hands. This is perhaps the ideal size for people who find the phones to be too big, but it's a step in the wrong direction for users who do not want phones as big as they are. iPhone 6, 6, 7 or 8, and who lean towards the iPhone SE now abandoned instead. Whether it's a general market trend or a fashion, some people are definitely left behind.

The second and third factors relate to the actual longevity of XR. While Verizon and AT & T are just starting to roll out 5G networks, buying a 4G phone now comes down to buying an old-school Casio early in the smartwatch era – an investment that will seem technologically obsolete in the very foreseeable future. It does not help that Apple manufactured the XR from easily damaged glass and aluminum, which requires you to buy a protective case.

If a family member or friend was looking for a phone now and needed something right away, I would point the iPhone XR directly. For the price, it's a better choice than the iPhone XS or the iPhone XS Max, unless the second rear lens or the Gigabit LTE potential service of the XS models does not really seduce you. But if you've waited so long, expect to wait until next year, when the first 5G phones will offer even more impressive cell performance over several years. With the rapid appearance of 5G, you can be certain that huge gains in cell speed will soon be achieved, even if Apple will not be the first (or second or third) to deliver them to customers.